Method, system and device for switchless detection and charging

ABSTRACT

A system, a method, and a device for detecting and charging electronic articles, and more particularly for charging batteries in electronic cigarettes.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser.No. 14/912,141, filed 15 Feb. 2016 (the '141 application); which is anational stage application of International patent application no.PCT/US2014/051368, filed 15 Aug. 2014 and published as publication no.WO 2015/023996 A1 on 19 Feb. 2015 (the '368 application). Thisapplication claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application No.61/866,360, filed 15 Aug. 2013 (the '360 application). The '141application; the '368 application; and the '360 application are herebyincorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to a system, a method, and a device fordetecting and charging electronic articles, and more particularly forcharging batteries in electronic cigarettes.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Electronic cigarettes, also known as e-cigarette (eCigs) and personalvaporizers (PVs), are electronic inhalers that vaporize or atomize aliquid solution into an aerosol mist that may then be delivered to auser. A typical eCig has two main parts—a battery part and a cartomizer.The battery part typically includes a rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion)battery, a light emitting diode (LED), and a pressure sensor. Thecartomizer typically includes a liquid solution, an atomizer and amouthpiece. The atomizer typically includes a heating coil thatvaporizes the liquid solution.

For safety reasons, the rechargeable battery is not directly connectedto external contacts. Instead, a diode and a field effect transistor(FET) are connected in series with the battery connection. When a FET isused, the FET is turned on once a charging process is detected for theeCig. The eCig may be charged by placing the eCig in a charging stationthat is configured to receive the particular eCig. The charging stationmay include a charging circuit that is configured to supply power to theeCig to charge the battery.

Generally, eCig charging devices or holders (e.g., a charging station, aeCig charging pack, or the like) use a switch to detect when an eCig isplaced in a station. However, switches are expensive, failure prone, andmechanically complex to implement in eCig charging holders. An unmetneed exists for a low cost eCig charging holder that can detect thepresence of an eCig without expending large amounts of current andwithout the use of a switch.

The present disclosure provides a system, a method, and a device thatsatisfy this unmet need, providing a simple, inexpensive, low energyconsumption charging device and method.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

According to one non-limiting example of the disclosure, a system, amethod, and a device are provided for detecting and charging ofelectronic articles, such as, for example, batteries. Furthermore, thesystem, method and device may be used to charge batteries in eCigs.

In an embodiment, a charging device for charging an electronic article,the charging device comprises the following: (a) a device chargingcircuit configured (i) to selectively, electrically couple with anelectronic article circuit and (ii) to charge a rechargeable batterylocated within a portion of the electronic article and comprising partof the electronic article circuit, and (b) a microcomputer configured todo the following: (i) detect whether the charging circuit iselectrically coupled with the electronic article circuit, (ii) measure acharge level of the rechargeable battery, and (iii) use the measuredcharge level to determine a charge mode for charging the rechargeablebattery.

In another embodiment, a charging holder, configured to charge arechargeable battery of an electronic article, comprises a spring-loadedpin contact configured to provide a first polarity of a charge signal,the spring-loaded pin contact comprising: i) a pin configured to contactthe rechargeable battery, and ii) a spring-like element coupled to thepin, the spring-like element configured to hold the pin against therechargeable battery; and an edge contact configured to provide a secondpolarity of the charge signal, the edge contact comprising: i) a firstsurface configured to contact the rechargeable battery, and ii) a secondsurface coupled to the first surface, the second surface comprising ahole, wherein the pin is configured to project through the hole.

Additional features, advantages, and embodiments of the disclosure maybe set forth or apparent from consideration of the detailed descriptionand drawings. Moreover, it is to be understood that the foregoingsummary of the disclosure and the following detailed description anddrawings are exemplary and intended to provide further explanationwithout limiting the scope of the disclosure as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the disclosure, are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the disclosure andtogether with the detailed description serve to explain the principlesof the disclosure. No attempt is made to show structural details of thedisclosure in more detail than may be necessary for a fundamentalunderstanding of the disclosure and the various ways in which it may bepracticed. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows an example of an electronic article that is constructedaccording to an aspect of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a charging holder that is constructedaccording to an aspect of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of a method for determiningwhich charging mode a charging device provides to an article chargingcircuit.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a charging method for detecting and chargingan electronic article according to an aspect of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, isometric view of an exemplary charging devicewith its cover removed.

The present disclosure is further described in the detailed descriptionthat follows.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure and the various features and advantageous details thereofare explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodimentsand examples that are described and/or illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings and detailed in the following. It should be noted that thefeatures illustrated in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale,and features of one embodiment may be employed with other embodiments asthe skilled artisan would recognize, even if not explicitly statedherein. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniquesmay be omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments of thedisclosure. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitatean understanding of ways in which the disclosure may be practiced and tofurther enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments ofthe disclosure. Accordingly, the examples and embodiments herein shouldnot be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure. Moreover, itis noted that like reference numerals represent similar parts throughoutthe several views of the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an electronic article 10 according to anaspect of the disclosure. In the instant example, the electronic article10 comprises an eCig. However, the electronic article 10 may compriseany article that may be charged by an external power supply, such as,e.g., a rechargeable battery, or the like.

The eCig 10 comprises a cartomizer 14 and a battery part 18. Thecartomizer 14 comprises an opening 12 through which aerosol may bedelivered to a user. The cartomizer 14 comprises a solution (not shown)and an atomizer (not shown). The solution may include, e.g., a liquid, agel, a solid, or a gas that comprises molecules (or particles) to bedelivered in an aerosol to a user. The battery part 18 includes a powersupply (e.g., a rechargeable Li-ion battery) (not shown) and an LED (notshown).

FIG. 2 shows an example of a charging holder or device (pack) 20. Thepack 20 in this example comprises an eCig charging pack. The pack 20comprises one or more regions that are configured to receive the batterypart 18, and/or the cartomizer 14, and/or the entire eCig 10. In theexample illustrated in FIG. 2, the pack 20 comprises a plurality ofregions, each of which is configured to receive a respective eCig 10, ora component of the eCig 10 (e.g., cartomizer 14 and/or battery part 18).The pack 20 comprises a charging device 200 (shown in, for example, FIG.4) that connects to and supplies a power to charge the power supply(e.g., Li-ion battery) in the eCig 10, or a component of the eCig 10(e.g., cartomizer 14 and/or battery part 18).

The charging device 200 is configured to detect when the eCig 10 or acomponent of the eCig 10 (e.g., cartomizer 14 and/or battery part 18)(hereafter “eCig 10” will refer to the entire eCig device or one of thecomponents, cartomizer 14 and/or battery part 18, as applicable) isplaced in the eCig pack 20. The charging device 200 is furtherconfigured to detect when the eCig 10 is removed from the pack 20. Inthe first instance, the charging device 200 determines when to initiatea charging process. In the second instance, the charging device 200determines when to terminate the charging process. As part of thecharging process, the charging device 200 may determine whether tosupply one or more charging modes: for example, trickle-charge mode,current-servo mode, voltage-servo mode, or a power off (sleep mode).

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary method 300 by which the charging device 200determines which charging mode to supply to the article charging circuit100 (e.g. in the eCig 10). At step 302, the trickle-charge mode isactive. The trickle-charge mode may comprise applying a source powersupply signal from a source battery, in a device charging circuit 240 inFIG. 4 (e.g., a battery in the pack 20), having a current of around 10mA, that is determined to be optimal for efficiently and effectivelycharging the eCig 10. The system may remain in the trickle-charge modeuntil the eCig battery voltage rises to a value of, for example, about3.0V. At step 304, if the eCig battery voltage is greater than 3.0V, thesystem may switch to the current-servo mode at step 306. In the case oftraditional eCigs, the source battery may have a voltage that is in therange of, e.g., about 3.0V to about 5.0V, and preferably around 4.2V. Itis noted that the power supply signal may have a voltage that is lessthan 3.0V or greater than 5.0V, depending on the eCig to be charged.

The current-servo charge mode may comprise applying a source powersupply signal from the source battery (e.g., a battery in the pack 20)having a current equal to the rated charge-rate of the battery cellwithin the eCig 10 (e.g., 80 mA for an 80 mAh cell with a 1Ccharge-rate, 40 ma for an 80 mAh cell with a 2C charge-rate, or a leveldetermined to be optimal for efficiently charging the eCig 10). Thesystem may remain in this charging mode until the eCig battery voltagerises to a value of, for example, about 4.2V. At step 308, if the eCigbattery voltage is greater than 4.2V, the system may switch to thevoltage-servo mode at step 310.

The voltage-servo charge mode may comprise applying a source powersupply signal from the source battery to maintain the battery voltage ator around 4.2V. In this charge mode, the charging device 200 maycontinue to supply power to the eCig power supply until at least one ofthe following occurs: (a) the current of the eCig power supply goesbelow a predetermined current threshold (e.g., 20 mA) at step 312; (b) apredetermined time elapses (e.g., 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 60minutes) at step 314; (c) the eCig power supply is decoupled from thecharging device 200 (e.g., when the eCig 10 is removed from the pack 20)at step 316; or (d) the voltage level of the source power supply in thepack 20 (e.g., in the charging device 200) drops below a predeterminedthreshold (e.g., below 3.2V) at step 318. If any of (a)-(d) above occur,the system may enter a power-down (sleep) mode at step 320. In anembodiment, the system 400 (shown in FIG. 4), evaluates whether any of(a)-(d) above have occurred in the order of steps 312-318, as shown. Inother embodiments, the system 400 (shown in FIG. 4), can evaluatewhether any of (a)-(d) above have occurred in any order.

The voltage (or current) of the source power supply signal may varydepending on the particular power supply in the eCig 10 that is to becharged by the charging device 200. In this regard, the charging device200 may identify the particular power supply used in the eCig 10 andadjust the voltage (and/or current) of the power supply signal.

For instance, the charging device 200 may communicate with the eCig 10to identify the particular power supply residing in the eCig 10.Alternatively (or additionally), the charging device 200 may include atransducer (not shown), such as, for example, a radio frequencyidentification device (RFID), an optical sensor, a magnetic sensor, orthe like, that is configured to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal(e.g., from an RFID tag), an optical signal or image (e.g., bar code),read magnetically recorded information from a computer-readable medium,or the like.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a charging system 400 according to an aspectof the disclosure. The charging system 400 comprises an article chargingcircuit 100 and the charging device 200. The article charging circuit100 may be provided in, e.g., the eCig 10 (or cartomizer 14 and/orbattery part 18). The charging device 200 may be provided in, e.g., adocking station, a charging station, a charging pack, the holder 20(shown in FIG. 2), or the like.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, the charging device 200, maydetect whether an eCig 10 is placed in the pack 20 and ready forcharging by periodically supplying a source power supply signal from thesource battery on the output line 102 and determining whether a load ispresent. For instance, the charging device 200 may drive a pulse widthmodulator (PWM) to periodically (e.g., every 2 seconds) supply power tothe output line 102 and measure for a load. Alternatively (oradditionally), the charging device 200 may periodically apply a sourcepower supply signal to the output line 102 in response to an event, suchas, e.g., a movement of the pack 20, the closing of a pack lid,manipulation of an actuator (e.g., a slide switch, a push-button switch,a touch-screen display, or the like) by the user.

In an eCig charging pack, where the pack battery (e.g., a source batteryin the device charging circuit 240) is used to charge one or more eCigbatteries, the average current used by the charging circuit looking fora load while an eCig is not in place may be high enough to discharge theeCig charging pack battery in, e.g., a few days. This may not bedesirable. The design of the charging device 200 avoids this undesirableresult as described below.

The article charging circuit 100 includes an application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC), a diode D3, a p-channel field effecttransistor (PFET), and a rechargeable battery B1. The ground terminalsof the ASIC and battery may be coupled to an equipotentiality (e.g.,ground or some other common reference). The ASIC may comprise a driverterminal that is coupled to a gate terminal of the PFET. The ASIC mayinclude a power supply terminal that is coupled to a positive voltageterminal of the battery B1, the drain (or source) of the PFET, and thecathode of the diode D3. The ASIC may include the output line 102 thatis coupled to the anode of the diode D3, the source (or drain) of thePFET, and the charging device 200.

It is noted that instead of the ASIC, the charging circuit 100 maycomprise a microcomputer. Furthermore, instead of using the PFET shownin, for example, FIG. 4, an NFET could be used on the other side of thebattery B1.

In the charging circuit 100, when a charging process is detected theASIC supplies a drive signal to the gate of the PFET to close thecircuit and allow the external power supply to provide a voltage throughthe PFET to the battery B1, thereby charging the battery.

It is noted that the pack 20 (FIGS. 2 and 5) may include a plurality ofoutput lines 102, each line having an end coupled to the charging device200 and an opposite end coupled to a unique contact that couples to aneCig 10. Alternatively, the output line 102 may include a bus that isconnected to all of the eCig contacts in parallel.

The charging device 200 comprises a microcomputer 220 and the devicecharging circuit 240. The device charging circuit 240 may include asource power supply (e.g., an eCig charging pack battery configured toconnect to a USB or wall outlet 250) that has adequate energy storagecapacity to fully charge at least one eCig 10 power supply, andpreferably to repeatedly fully charge multiple eCig power supplies(e.g., multiple eCigs 10). The charging device 200 may further include aplurality of diodes D1, D2, D4, a plurality of capacitors C1, C2, aresistor R1, and a voltage divider R2/R3. It is noted that D1, D2 may bea single dual-diode structure. The charging device 200 may be coupled tothe article charging circuit 100 through the output line 102. In onenon-limiting example of the charging device 200, components may have thefollowing values: R1=100kΩ, R2=100kΩ, R3=10Ω; C1=1 μf; and C2=10 μf.

The microcomputer 220 may include a plurality of input/output (I/O)lines 222-228, including a eCig detection enable line 222, an eCigdetection drive line 224, an eCig voltage monitor line 226, and acharger ON/OFF line 228.

As seen in FIG. 4, connecting the eCig 10 (with article charging circuit100) to the charging pack 20 (with charging device 200) does not raisethe voltage on the output line 102 because of the blocking internaldiode D3 and PFET. When charging, the voltage on the output line 102 israised to the eCig battery voltage since the PFET in the electronicarticle circuit 100 is turned on, thereby closing the circuit 100. Whenthe eCig 10 is in the charging pack 20 and the charging device 200 isnot on, the voltage on the output line 102 will be 0V. The voltagedivider R1/R2 monitors the battery voltage during charging since thephases of the charging process depend on battery voltage.

The detection method comprises raising the voltage on the output line102 so that it is high enough with a small current to forward bias thediode D3 in the circuit 100, and then detect the fact that the voltageon the output line 102 cannot rise to an expected open circuit voltage.Since the voltage cannot rise high enough because the diode D3 begins toconduct and the capacitor C2 will not charge as much compared to theopen circuit state, a determination may be made that an eCig is inplace.

The charging device 200 may be controlled by the microcomputer signals,including the eCig detection enable signal 222 and the DRIVE signal 224.Normally these signals reside at 0V, except when eCig detection isactive. The voltage on these signals 222, 224 will rise to the processorsupply voltage when the eCig detection is active.

Since the voltage of the eCig 10 power supply may be any voltagebetween, e.g., about 3V and about 4.2V, the power supplied on outputline 102 should have a voltage that is greater than 4.2V plus the diodeD3 voltage drop to forward bias the diode D3 in the circuit 100.Accordingly, if the diode D3 has a voltage drop of about 0.7V, then thevoltage of the source power supplied on the output line 102 should begreater than 4.9V (e.g., greater than 5V). The power supplied on theoutput line 102 may have a voltage of, e.g., about 5.3V. The chargingdevice 200 may supply a voltage that is greater than, e.g., 5.3V with noeCig in place, thereby making low current detection possible.

The charging system 400 may operate as follows. First, the microcomputer220 may control the supply of a voltage of, e.g., about 3.3V to thesignal line eCig detection enable 222. This may result in a voltage of,e.g., about 3V on the output line 102. Then, the microcomputer 220 maysupply, e.g., a PWM voltage signal (e.g., a few kHz) to the line DRIVE224. On each cycle of the DRIVE signal 224, the capacitor C1 will becharged and then discharged into capacitor C2. After, e.g., about 10 toabout 20 cycles of the DRIVE signal 224, the voltage on the capacitor C2will rise to about, e.g., 7.6V if there is no load on the output line102 (i.e., no eCig 10 coupled to the line 102). If there is a load onthe output line 102 (i.e., eCig 10 coupled to the line 102), then thevoltage on the capacitor C2 may rise to only about, e.g., 4.6V, or lessdepending on the charge level of the power supply B1 in the eCig 10. So,after a few tens of cycles of the DRIVE signal 224, the voltage on thevoltage monitor line 226 may be measured, and if the voltage isdetermined to be less than, e.g., between about 4.5V to about 6.0V, orabout 5.1V, the microcomputer 220 may determine that an eCig is inplace. Once a fixed number of cycles are supplied to the DRIVE line 222,the analog-to-digital (A/D) converter (not shown) in the microcomputer220 may measure the battery B1 voltage, and the eCig detection circuitmay be turned off. The entire process may take only a few milliseconds(e.g., 20 milliseconds) to carry out, and may be repeated every, e.g.,10 seconds.

The total energy needed to get the output line 102 to, e.g., about 5.3Vmay be twice the energy needed to charge the capacitor C2 to about 5.3V.This energy may be, e.g., about 0.3 millijoules. So the entire eCigdetection process may take about 0.6 millijoules. This energy times the0.1% duty cycle is the average current of the eCig detection circuit, orabout 0.6 microamps.

It is noted that other variations of the system and method can beimplemented, although the preferred embodiment is shown in FIG. 4. Forexample, the circuit that drives the DRIVE 224 and eCig detection enable222 signals could be generated by a very low power CMOS gate,eliminating the microcomputer 220 current during most of the detectionprocess.

Alternatively (or additionally), the capacitance of the capacitor C1could be large enough, and the capacitance of the capacitor C2 could besmall enough that a single rise of the voltage on the eCig detectionenable line 222 followed by a single rise of the voltage on DRIVE line224 could make the voltage on the output line 102 exceed above, e.g.,5.3V only briefly, but long enough for the microcomputer 220 to detectthe voltage on the output line 102, thereby making the ON time for themicrocomputer 220 very short.

Alternatively (or additionally), the frequency of the DRIVE signal 224could be increased to, e.g., about 100 kHz, making the charging time ofthe capacitor C2 very short, reducing the microcomputer 220 ON time.

An alternative method for eCig detection, in instances where powerconsumption is not a concern, is to activate the device charging circuit240 for the duration of the eCig detection process. Using this as thevoltage source, an internal A/D measurement may be performed by themicrocomputer 220 and used for eCig detection.

The microcomputer 220 may execute a computer program that may beprovided on a computer-readable medium, which may comprise a codesection or code segment for step described herein.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a charging device or holder (pack) 20.Within the charging holder 20, there are several slots for a full eCig10, or components of an eCig. In this example, eCig cartomizer 14 can beplaced in slot 22, the full eCig 10 can be placed in slot 24, andbattery part 18 can be placed in slot 26. When placed in slot 26, thebattery of the eCig 10 can be charged.

In order to charge an eCig battery using a charging device (e.g., apack-docking station, or some other modality), a reliable electricalconnection must be established between the battery and the chargingdevice. A commonly used method of establishing this reliable electricalconnection is to screw the charging connection of the eCig batteryhousing into the charging device. However, a more convenient way to makethe electrical connection is by using a push-in style of contact, whichalso has the benefit of not requiring the user do anything more thansimply pushing the eCig battery into the charging device.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 5, this push-in style of contactincludes a spring-loaded pin contact 28 to provide one polarity of thecharge signal and an edge contact 30 to provide the other polarity. Forexample, the spring-loaded pin contact 28 (or the edge contact 30) canbe connected to a circuit board comprising charging device 200 (shown inFIG. 4) via a flexible connection, such as a wire (not shown). Likewise,the edge contact 30 (or the spring-loaded pin contact 28) can beconnected to ground via a flexible connection, such as a wire (notshown).

The spring-loaded pin contact 28 can be a spring or a pin or aspring-loaded pin, as illustrated in FIG. 5. In the embodiment depictedin FIG. 5, the spring presses the charging device's spring-loaded pincontact 28 firmly against the eCig battery (not shown) and ensureselectrical continuity is maintained, even if the system is jostled.

The edge contact 30 of the charging device 20 depicted in FIG. 5 can bemade from a compliant conductive material, such as conductively platedspring steel. The edge contact 30 includes a hole 32 through which thespring-loaded pin contact 28 projects. The edge contact 30 is shaped soas to flex when the eCig battery is pushed into place in the chargingdevice. The compliance of the edge contact 30 ensures a reliableelectrical connection to the eCig battery, even during jostling, andaccommodates for variations in the mechanical dimensions of the eCigbattery and charging device.

Sometimes, debris or deposits can accumulate on the eCig battery or onthe edge contact 30 of the charging device 20. Such debris or depositscan inhibit the electrical connection between the eCig battery and thecharging device. To address this problem, the edge contact 30 can beconfigured to “self-clean.” For example, the relatively vertical surface34 of the edge contact 30 can be configured to scrape debris off theeCig battery as the eCig battery is pushed into the charging device,thereby removing any debris buildup at the sites of electricalconnection.

A “computer” or “microcomputer,” as used in this disclosure, means anymachine, device, circuit, component, or module, or any system ofmachines, devices, circuits, components, modules, or the like, which arecapable of manipulating data according to one or more instructions, suchas, for example, without limitation, a processor, a microprocessor, acentral processing unit, a general purpose computer, or the like, or anarray of processors, microprocessors, central processing units, generalpurpose computers, or the like.

A “computer-readable medium,” as used in this disclosure, means anymedium that participates in providing data (for example, instructions)which may be read by a computer. Such a medium may take many forms,including non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media.Non-volatile media may include, for example, optical or magnetic disksand other persistent memory. Volatile media may include random accessmemory (RAM). Transmission media may include coaxial cables, copper wireand fiber optics, including the wires that comprise a system bus coupledto the processor. Transmission media may include or convey acousticwaves, light waves and electromagnetic emissions, such as thosegenerated during radio frequency (RF) and infrared (IR) datacommunications. Common forms of computer-readable media include, forexample, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, any other optical medium, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, aFLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartomizer, a carrier wave asdescribed hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carryingsequences of instructions to a computer. For example, sequences ofinstruction (i) may be delivered from a RAM to a processor, (ii) may becarried over a wireless transmission medium, and/or (iii) may beformatted according to numerous formats, standards or protocols known inthe art as of the date of this writing.

The terms “including,” “comprising” and variations thereof, as used inthis disclosure, mean “including, but not limited to,” unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

The terms “a,” “an,” and “the,” as used in this disclosure, means “oneor more,” unless expressly specified otherwise.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be incontinuous communication with each other, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with eachother may communicate directly or indirectly through one or moreintermediaries.

Although process steps, method steps, algorithms, or the like, may bedescribed in a sequential order, such processes, methods and algorithmsmay be configured to work in alternate orders. In other words, anysequence or order of steps that may be described does not necessarilyindicate a requirement that the steps be performed in that order. Thesteps of the processes, methods or algorithms described herein may beperformed in any order practical. Further, some steps may be performedsimultaneously.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readilyapparent that more than one device or article may be used in place of asingle device or article. Similarly, where more than one device orarticle is described herein, it will be readily apparent that a singledevice or article may be used in place of the more than one device orarticle. The functionality or the features of a device may bealternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are notexplicitly described as having such functionality or features.

What is claimed:
 1. A charging device for charging an electronicarticle, the charging device comprising the following: (a) a devicecharging circuit configured (i) to selectively, electrically couple withan electronic article circuit and (ii) to charge a rechargeable batterylocated within a portion of the electronic article and comprising partof the electronic article circuit, and (b) a microcomputer configured todo the following: (i) detect whether the charging circuit iselectrically coupled with the electronic article circuit, (ii) measure acharge level of the rechargeable battery, and (iii) use the measuredcharge level to determine a charge mode for charging the rechargeablebattery.
 2. The charging device of claim 1, wherein the microcomputer isfurther configured to detect whether the device charging circuit iselectrically coupled with the electronic article circuit by periodicallysupplying a source power supply signal from the device charging circuitto the electronic article circuit.
 3. The charging device of claim 2,wherein the source power supply signal allows the electronic articlecircuit to be electronically coupled to the device charging circuit forcharging the electronic article circuit.
 4. The charging device of claim2, wherein the charging device further comprises a capacitor configuredto be electronically coupled, in parallel, with the electronic articlecircuit.
 5. The charging device of claim 4, wherein the microcomputer isconfigured to determine that the capacitor is electronically coupledwith the electronic article circuit when a voltage of the devicecharging circuit fails to rise above a predetermined threshold value. 6.The charging device of claim 5, wherein the predetermined thresholdvalue is between about 4.5 volts and about 6.0 volts.
 7. The chargingdevice of claim 1, wherein the microcomputer is further configured todetermine the charge mode based on one or more of the following: avoltage of a battery of the electronic article circuit, a current of thebattery of the electronic article circuit, a voltage of a battery of thedevice charging circuit, or a time.
 8. The charging device of claim 7,wherein the microcomputer is configured to determine that when thevoltage of the battery of the electronic charging circuit is below about3.0V, the charging circuit operates in a trickle charge mode to theelectronic article circuit.
 9. The charging device of claim 7, whereinthe microcomputer is configured to determine that when the voltage ofthe battery of the electronic charging circuit is between about 3.0V and4.2V, the charging circuit operates in a current-servo charge mode tothe electronic article circuit.
 10. The charging device of claim 7,wherein the microcomputer is configured to determine that when thevoltage of the battery of the electronic article circuit is at or aboveabout 4.2V, the charging circuit operates in a voltage-servo charge modeto the electronic article circuit.
 11. The charging device of claim 10,wherein the microcomputer is configured to direct the device chargingcircuit to operate in a power-down mode when one or more of thefollowing occur: the battery of the electronic article circuit has acurrent below a first threshold value, the battery of the devicecharging circuit has a voltage below a second threshold value, thedevice charging circuit is physically decoupled from the electronicarticle circuit, or the device circuit has operated in a voltage servocharge mode for a predetermined period of time.
 12. The charging deviceof claim 1, wherein the electronic article is an electronic smokingarticle.
 13. The charging device of claim 1, wherein the devicecomprises part of one of a docking station, a charging station, acharging pack, or a charging holder for an electronic smoking article.14. The charging device of claim 1, wherein the charging device furthercomprises a USB port or a wall outlet.